The Host: The Soul
by Amanda Stryder Hawthorne
Summary: Continuation of The Host. Can humanity be saved? Valerie, who's 17, does not think so. She has been running away with Juliet and her friend Will for a long time, without being able to "live". But she'll change her mind when she knows the existence of the caves and, above all, James Stryder, whose rebellious character is the driver to the hope of the few remaining humans on Earth.


THE HOST belongs to STEPHENIE MEYER. Only this story, Valerie, Juliet and Will are completely mine (¡mine!, lololo).

Unnofficial continuation of THE HOST: **THE SOUL**

**For all The Host' fans; for Electrica Black Cullen, she gaves me the opportunity to meet a teen Jamie, wild and with many hormones ; )**

**And of course you, Camila. You're always here. Thanks for translate this story.**

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FIRST PART: REBELS

PREFACE

Signals

While Juliet was sleeping, I turned on the radio and I stayed attentive to it's signals. Sometimes the snapping noise was so annoying that I had to press the radio against my stomach so my sister couldn't wake up. Lately, get her asleep had turned a complicated task. Especially since Will disappeared.

It was an afternoon, three months ago. We had camped behind the bushes and the trees in a park out of town. Almost anyone crossed by there, so after several weeks acting as nomads made us feel quite safe. We had lost the car we were driving before (or rather had run out of gas and neither of us dared to refuel). When we found Will, it was a relief knowing that he drove despite being twenty years old, and twelve when he started to flee.

Juliet was strangely cheerful. She ate a bean's can that we had achieved by the road, which took a load off. I can say, my little sister's diet wasn't very healthy neither abundant. Will smiled when he saw her scraping the can with her tongue. Then he turned to look at the map that I was holding.

"I keep thinking we should go to the south," he repeated.

"Why? There's nothing there, Will. Just desert. What makes you think that there might be…"

I lower my voice until I gesticulated the last word with my lips:

‹‹Humans››

He pursed his lips and shrugged.

"If those colonies you always talk about really existed, I think they would be in colder places. Or even underground! Not in the middle of the desert."

He ignored me.

"Arizona is three states away from here, Valerie. If I could get a car, we could be there in less than three days."

"The car would not hold."

"We could take another one on the way."

"Okay, we got there. And then what?"

He smiled.

"Do you have to get hit at all?"

I sighed and looked straight to the map.

"What happens is that we can't venture to make a trip into the desert without really knowing what we are expecting to find."

"Valerie, _they_ are everywhere. Hidden in remote places. They would help us as soon as they know that we are of theirs."

I know where this conversation would end: a rather strong argument about our different points of view. While I was thinking that it was better for us to keep on moving to the north, Will was looking for some kind of stability on his life. Looking for human settlements.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten until I opened them again. Will was still there, the map was still between us.

And the souls were still in the Earth.

When he saw the surrender in my eyes, his lit up.

"We just need to understand the radio's signals, Valerie. A weird phrase… anything. You'll see how everything will go well."

The next day, when I woke up, Will wasn't here; but the radio itself yes.

When the two-hours-limit we gave to our agreeing passed, it was hard to collect everything, load Will's backpack on my shoulder and take Juliet's hand to walk aimlessly. For a long time, my body worked like a robot. It was stable to not to worry my sister, but I wanted to yell and cry inside. Juliet didn't understand. Better that way.

What happened to Will? That was what I wondered every night.

I knew the possibilities of seeing him again where pretty slim, as same as I knew that perhaps Will disappeared of his body, stolen by a soul. I didn't like calling them that why, because a soul is a synonym of "goodness", and those creatures couldn't be goodness if they took away my home, my family… With them here, I wasn't able to promise Juliet a good future.

As if honor to Will, I attended all the radio's programs of souls every night, in the ones that only talked about the good aspect of the Earth, of the human emotions and which new food was the speaker was going to taste tomorrow.

I leaned against the trunk without moving Juliet's head, which was resting on my lap.

I leaned my shoulders on the rough bark and relaxed my back. My eyelids began to weigh when a phrase called my attention. It looked like it cut a not very interesting conversation about renewable energy resources. A male voice talked spoke softly, like if he was singing.

"_I have seven sheep in Albuquerque. I keep them away from the wolf. They will be safe there…_"


End file.
